Talented freshman Keith Appling expects to be fast learner in Michigan State backcourt

AP PhotoKeith Appling, bottom left, is part of a talented Michigan State class that also includes, clockwise from left, Alex Gauna, Adreian Payne and Russel Byrd.

EAST LANSING -- Keith Appling created a discussion that he willingly spurs. Michigan State’s dynamic freshman point guard, lauded for his athleticism, may be the fastest Spartan. Unless you listen to him, in which case no such qualifier is necessary.

Who’s faster, Appling or the Spartans’ star point guard, Kalin Lucas?

“Me,” Appling said.

What about when Lucas is fully recovered from surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles’ tendon?

“Me,” Appling said.

Lucas, listening nearby, offered a dismissive wave of the hand as he shook his head.

"I am, man. I am,” Appling said.

Appling arrived here this summer as a McDonald’s All-American, Michigan State’s first in seven years, with an attitude to match.

Last year’s Mr. Basketball at Detroit Pershing High School, who in 2009 capped a state championship with a 49-point title game, was asked last week about the newfound challenges of Michigan State’s practice tempo.

“At my high school, we played pretty fast, too,” Appling said. “It’s not too much of a difference.”

If getting up to speed on the court has not proved much of a transition, Appling admitted it wasn’t that way in his first two classes this summer.

“Back at my high school, the vocabulary that they used wasn’t as large as it is here on the college level,” he said. “So I had to adjust quick, fast, and in a hurry, to keep my grades up.”

Like most freshmen, there also was an adjustment to the new freedom college students discover.

“I was in class one day and a guy just got up and walked out, and they didn’t say nothing to him,” Appling said. “I was like ‘What’s going on?’”

Appling factors into the Spartans’ guard-rich rotation, even without considering Lucas’ recovery and the unspecified suspension Korie Lucious faces for a drunken-driving arrest. Add those elements, and Appling figures to undergo a trial-by-fire adjustment to college basketball, in early games against Duke, South Carolina, Syracuse, and three Maui Invitational opponents, all in the first 3 1/2 weeks.

Besides superior speed, Appling also should emerge as one of the Spartans’ best pure shooters and possesses the time-honored Michigan State guard characteristic of voracious offensive rebounding, despite his 6-foot-1, 180-pound dimensions.

Asked how some the newcomers have adjusted to the physicality of practices, coach Tom Izzo said the most impressive was Appling.

“He’s not afraid to go in there and he’s athletic enough to get up,” Izzo said.

Appling has earned Izzo’s absolute praise for athletic ability that compares to anyone on the team, including Durrell Summers.

“He can really run and jump, but he can shoot it -- scores points in bunches,” Izzo said.

Izzo stopped short of predicting the outcome of a footrace between his star senior guard and his future star freshman.

“It would be an interesting race when Kalin is right,” he said. “But Keith is as fast as anybody.”

“I think could have Durrell and Korie on the wing with me, I could have me and him on the wing -- I think, as far as this team, we’re going to have a lot of guards who can do a lot of different things,” Lucas said.

Appling, asked about the challenge of practicing against the best point guard in the Big Ten, said it has been more difficult learning the offense and adjusting to hours of film review.

“Obviously, he’s not at full strength,” Appling said of Lucas. “But I played some of the better guards in the country on the AAU circuit and in high school. So it’s just another step in the way.”

Lucas acknowedged his early practices against Appling have been difficult “because one thing he is going to do, he's going to compete.”

When Lucas regains full health, he said he happily will resolve the unanswered question between himself and Appling.